


Errand

by shopwitch



Category: Suspiria (2019)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22233778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopwitch/pseuds/shopwitch
Summary: The day after the Mother of Sighs awakened, she had some errands to run. Rumors fly about the academy, and slowly a plan is formed.This is a one-shot, slice of life. A resolution. A coda.
Relationships: Susie Bannion/Madame Blanc
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Errand

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a part of the Small Fandom Fest hosted over on Dreamwidth! I had wanted to write something longer, but the world itself is so elusive that this felt as close as I could come. I hope you enjoy.

Time moves in circles. 

Our bodies are reborn, a new soul flashes behind old eyes, we strive ever harder to reach new peaks, to jump higher. Higher, higher, higher. The bodies of the dancers circle, mad, taken over by the heat of the ritual, and even now, after the snap of her spinal cord, she could see them whirling. Today, the girls won’t remember what happened. A small blessing, bestowed by the Mother. 

Viva Blanc knows that time is far from linear. The false mother instilled that in her long ago. Time hypnotizes: it is the dancer’s greatest magical art. And the breath. 

When Miss Tanner and Miss Vandegast came to clean the ritual hall, they took her body. Veda was conscious, but she could not speak through severed vocal chords. But still, the women knew one another so well that they didn’t need words to communicate. 

Where are you taking me?

“We are taking you to your chamber,” Miss Vandegast said, and she giggled a bit at the blood on the ground. 

Where is Mother?

“She had to run an errand this morning. But she will be back.” 

Now, as Veda lay in bed, she could feel her body attempt to mend itself. She was caught in stasis: it had happened before, but never to her. She had held space for others in the company, she had allowed them the grace of being outside of time. At least, she’d thought it was grace. But now, with Miss Tanner seated in a hard rocking chair, and the bleak grey blankets spattered with blood, Veda knew it wasn’t grace. She felt things happen to her, over and over and over. She felt her heart speed up, as Mother Markos looked at her. She felt the revulsion, the constant revulsion at what Markos had become. She felt the slice of her neck, the blood spatter. But she also felt Susie’s lips against her own, their hands touching, the pleasure of her dreamworlds. 

It was happening all at once, constantly. 

The morning light grew into afternoon, and Veda wanted her curtains closed, but Miss Tanner was asleep against the hard back of the rocking chair. There was no clock in this room. Veda always preferred things without frills. Her bedchamber was relaxed, yet sparse. After seeing the Mother rise, she wanted more comfort. 

The light turned again, fading fast over the wallpaper. Miss Tanner was asleep, but she did not snore, as was her habit. Veda knew she had a partner in suspension.

“I should not have let things get so far as to hurt you,” Susie said. 

Flash to the present, and with a gasp Veda was removed from suspension. Susie slipped off her gloves (when had she become Susie again?), and sat on the edge of the bed. She had been in the cold, it clung to her coat, but underneath Veda could still see the fiery red of her hair. 

Why am I still here?

“You are still here because you are an anomaly,” Susie said. She placed her hand on Veda’s throat, and she could feel it begin to knit itself back together. Breathing, slowly, became easier. “You knew to remain loyal to me. You did not trust the False Mother. How?”

Veda could feel the darkness mending her, and still didn’t trust her voice.

She felt wrong to me. Too corrupted. If she had really been one of the three, her energy would have been pure. Like yours.

Pure, but not good. Goodness is not for the Three Mothers. 

“That was your first life, Veda. Welcome to your second. And now, I give you the gift of healing sleep.”

Susie leaned over, and kissed Veda’s forehead.

“Rest now, Madame.”

Finally, Madame Blanc succumbed to the darkness.

**

When she walked among them, the Germans didn’t notice her. There was too much happening in their worlds, too much to take in elsewhere. Susie knew that as a girl, she was plain. Her red hair, fire, but otherwise she didn’t wear makeup and didn’t have much of an outfit to speak for. That is, unless Veda dressed her. Veda always knew how to dress her for this world. 

Berlin had been steeped in gloom for weeks. Autumn in Germany was always dark - particularly getting into November. Today felt like a blessing.

The sense of foreboding lifted, Susie walked among the crowds. 

She had heard some of the girls talking about a flower market. They wouldn’t have much, but Susie wondered if she could at least get the dying breath of some carnations. Red. Red was the color. 

The market was in a little square, not far from the studio. Older couples walked hand in hand outside, and she knew, deep down, that whatever it was with Veda would not turn into that. Now that her memory had returned, she felt like she was the older woman. Catching a glimpse of herself in a shop window, she felt her soul lift out of her body. It was so young and supple, and yet she was plagued with the sense of doom, of grief. 

There were only three stalls there that day, and only one that had any carnations.

“Hello, miss. Flowers?”

“Thirteen carnations, please.” 

“Thirteen?” The man chuckled. “We’re not a bakery, you know.” 

Susie smiled. 

“And still your gifts are much sweeter.” 

The man chuckled, and pulled together a meagre bouquet of flowers for her. 

“That will be 3 Marks,” he said. 

Susie took out her coin purse and counted the marks.

Money. That was one more thing she’d need. They would need to put on a performance, and fast. 

She thanked the man, and continued to walk along the river. 

Distantly, she heard him begin to weep.

**

“How are you feeling today?” 

“I have a massive headache. I don’t remember drinking that much wine, but I must have. My lips were stained purple this morning!”

“Ugh I feel like I have food poisoning.” 

“I can’t believe they’re making us rehearse today.”

“I know a good hangover cure. If you need it, I’ve got the raw eggs in my room.” 

“It’s about getting enough water - I can’t drink enough water.”

“Girls! To your places! We must warm up - we wouldn’t want Madame Blanc to be upset with our work ethic.”

The girls groaned but moved to their respective places.

“And one, and two, and three …”

**

The business with Dr. Klemperer still bothered her. He had seen enough of sorrow, it was not for them to bring sorrow to those who already had it. Suspiria is the equalizer. Everyone sighs in death, everyone sighs in grief. And some - especially the Jews - have had more personal destruction than others. It was not their souls that she wanted to feed on. 

It was the strong, the blonde, the hale and hearty. 

They were her challenge. 

As Susie walked back to the School of Dance, taking the long route, she thought back to her decisions that day. She knew it was not kind, in the human sense of the word, to erase Klemperer’s memory. Perhaps his lost love was the one true happiness he’d had. And yet that was still fraught - if she could still his sorrows, that would allow him to move on. 

Ideally, he would do her bidding. Ideally, he would thank her for the newfound peace in his life. 

She decided in that moment to visit him tomorrow. 

Susie neared the imposing doors of their school. The air above her turned grey and forboding once more. As she walked in, she could distantly hear the piano playing and Miss Tanner counting out the beat for the dancers. She turned down the hall, towards the room where Veda slept. Outside felt loud, the old and fading wallpaper a way of dampening the crush that threatened to bring the school into reality. 

When she walked through those doors, she let out a silent cry for Miss Tanner. The other woman, guided only by intuition, moved slowly from the healing room, levitating two inches above the floor. Her eyes remained closed, still unsure of their ability to open. 

They stood there, a titan and a woman, for what felt like hours. Suspiria needed to feed on another woman’s energy, to speed up time. Tanner floated, a cocoon of light surrounding her, pulling in from the hours they stood. Mother Suspiria, immortal, needed nothing for comfort. But she was impatient, and needed to speed up the recovery of her lover. As they stood, time slipping away, Veda Blanc grew back into herself. It was right as the time was slipping into 8 pm that Mother Suspiria finally felt the magic overtake Blanc, felt the cords snap and knew she was ready.

“Miss Tanner, Awaken,” Suspiria said.

The woman blinked her eyes open, and with a dull thud her feet sank into the ground. 

“Follow me.”

Much had changed in the span of time the witch had quickened. The girls were done dancing for the day. It had been a brief rehearsal, mostly focused on keeping the bodies ready for dance. Susie’s consciousness was still connected to the other woman’s. Tanner knew, instinctively, that she was not spared out of mercy. Susie could tell by her thoughts that she was afraid, and she absolutely should have been. It was one of those moments, where she felt like she was bleeding her own identity into the identity of the mothers. 

The Mother of Sighs knows that rest is critical. Unconsciously, she darkened the lights in the building, each one turning down as she walked the halls. The girls had all taken an early dinner, and Susie could almost hear them in each others’ rooms, talking and gossiping about how many of the Misses had left the academy in the last day. Miss Tanner had told her the others didn’t want to further disrespect their Mother by telling the girls something she hadn’t approved. 

The mothers who remained - those who were loyal to Blanc - were waiting for her in the dining room. But first, she needed to see her Veda, and she wanted Miss Tanner to be there to answer for anything ill that may have fallen her lover. 

“Miss Tanner, you need not be so frightened,” Susie said, to break the silence. 

“Really?”

“I am a Titan, but I am not a monster. There is a difference.”

There was silence for a moment as they walked. 

“Does that mean you forgive me?”

Susie sighed.

“It means I have a use for you.” 

There was one lamp on in the room when Susie walked in, and Veda was staring out into the evening darkness. 

“It is good to see you upright, Veda Blanc,” Susie said, trying to inject a warm tone into her voice.

Veda turned to her. She walked across the room, and held out the bouquet. Almost instantly, Veda’s face lit up. To bring color into this drab room … it was enough to bring that spark back to Veda Blanc.

“Thank you, Mother, for mending me,” she said immediately, and moved as if to bow, but the motion hurt her. 

“There is no need, Veda. It’s still me in here.” Susie moved forward to examine Veda Blanc, holding out her hands. She placed them on the woman, and sent tendrils out into her body. There were still aches and pains, yes, but the suspension had done what was necessary. Her heart was pumping, still connecting blood to her brain, and she would be able to stay alive. It wasn’t so terribly difficult to imagine that Veda could live a long, healthy life. 

It helped to have the Mother of Sighs stave off death. 

“Thank you for your service today, Miss Tanner. You are dismissed. Please assemble any remaining Mothers to await an announcement in the dining room,” Susie said. 

Tanner’s footsteps echoed, hollow, against the hardwood floors.

“Please have a seat, my love,” Susie said. 

Veda’s eyes widened, but she did as she was asked.

“I know you expected our affair to end, now that I have reached my true form.” Veda nodded, slightly. “But I have not finished with you. You taught me such beauty, renewed in me a deep love for the human form, for the capabilities of this body.” 

Veda nodded. 

“You may speak, love. Your throat has mostly healed. 

“Thank you, Mother.” 

“Please, continue to call me Susie. It is my name of transformation.” 

“Where have you been? Why did you go?”

“I needed a reminder.”

Susie moved her hand across the blankets, and slowly clasped her fingers over Veda’s. She felt her heart pounding, that giddy feeling she thought she was too old to feel bubbling up in her chest. It didn’t make any sense, but very little did for the Mother of Whispers. 

“What happens now?” Veda asked.

“I have an errand to run. I left something in Russia, before the Turning,” Susie said. “You, obviously, will be in charge of this academy. We have great work to do, Madame Blanc. The girls need to ready themselves. Of course, they cannot yet comprehend the magic they will weave, but you were right: it is time for a new work.”

“What kind of new work?” Veda asked.

“Why, now is the time for opening. Layers, levels, and dimensions. The girls will need rigorous training. This will feel experimental to them, but it will not be. We are reviving the old ways, through the vortex of the body.” 

“Will you teach them?”

Susie shook her head. She glanced toward the fireplace in the room, and it lit. 

“No, not yet. I must leave - but only long enough for them to have forgotten me. When I return, my skin will have aged just enough that they will think we are the same generation. When I return, I will take over - though you will still do the teaching.” 

Veda nodded, and looked down at their hands. 

“When do you leave?”

“Tonight. I am impatient. But don’t worry, dear one, I will be back soon.” Susie kissed Veda’s forehead, and drew away slightly.

“May I be presumptuous?” Veda asked.

Susie grinned. 

“Always.”

Veda kissed her deeply, a goodbye kiss, a breath of life. Mother Suspiria dissolved, her goal and her errand on her mind. 

Madame Veda Blanc was left behind, a sigh on her lips, and the formulation of a plan to guide her.


End file.
